TAKE A PRODUCTIVE STEP AND TURN BITTERNESS INTO POSITIVITY

‘Dealing with negativity is quite a difficult task,’ I said to my dad. He replied that one needs to find the right strategy to tackle negative people. Whenever we encounter someone with a negative attitude, don’t respond by throwing an insult back at them. Keep your dignity instead of matching their levels.

He advised that in such situations, it’s best to convert the bitterness into positivity by choosing to do something productive. So, I started mixing ingredients to bake a cake that my father was hinting at. As I mixed the batter, I lectured myself on keeping calm, and soon had managed a lump-free batter. Yes, I got the fruitful result of my conscious distraction — a perfectly puffed-up cake that the family enjoyed.

At night, I heard my dad having an argument over the phone, and the next morning, I saw him sowing seeds in the garden. He called me to him, and said, ‘Revenge is what we desire when someone does wrong to us, but one needs to transform anger into kindness. So, I am trying to cultivate these flowers for my own happiness and pluck out the weeds that resist the growth. Forgive those who wrong you and sow the seed of forgiveness in the fertile soul of yours.’ Tough, but for our own peace of mind we should do this!

Also, as Martha Kilpatrick said, “We are all on a lifelong journey and the core of its meaning, the terrible demand of its centrality is forgiving and being forgiven’’